Collaborative Tools

This was the second occurence of the Enterprise 2.0 conference. My direct interest in these collaborative tools is two-fold:

• How can these tools be used to support me in my role as a trainer? One of the attendees suggested the use of a Wiki during training. One would seed the Wiki with the contents of the training and subsequently make this wiki availble to the trainees, both for note taking as well as to support a collaborative exercise. There's probably not that much of a use-case for using a wiki during a training if one can't think of a collaborative/group exercise. There was one vendor (Altus showcasing an online training/knowledge sharing application, see the conference presentations for an example. We (as a company) have used on-line presentations, shown in sync with the slides in the past. The new aspect was that the transcribed text (of the presentation) is searchable, and that URLs (e.g. from Blogs) can be created to any specific part of the presentation. This also allows for video based additions/comments related to a specific part of the presentation.
• Are there any new tools out there that can be used to support the collaborative process of an open standards organization like HL7? HL7 already uses e-mail lists (but we all know the problems and limitaytions of that technology), and a Wiki. Are there any other tools that would be helpful in supporting the work of hundreds of volunteers located all around the globe?

We also had an IBM presentation on some stuff they're experimenting with, Many-Eyes is an online application for the visualization of data. The aim is to motivate individuals (within a company) to share the data available on their local harddrive by allowing them to create "cool" visualizations. And the visualisations offered by this site certainly are very nice. Not just to create a visualisation for use in Powerpoint, but also as a dynamic tool for analysing the data from various perspectives.

The big question is whether these collaborative technologies are ready to be used in an enterprise environment. On the one hand they've moved out of the pure consumer space and can be adopted in smaller/medium sized organizations. The bigger organizations (I spoke with some guys from Morgan Stanley, the investment bank), with requirements for central management of software applications, single signon and security still have problems with 2.0 technologies.

When looking at HL7 (as a worldwide volunteer-based organization) the main hurdles to adoption of these tools is related to the fact that the users can't be "forced/coerced" to use an application, nor can they be trained to use it, so the tool has to show a clear advantage over existing tools (such as e-mail), otherwise global adoption won't happen. The best way to increase the use of collaborative technologies is to expand the use of the current technogies, i.e. by installing/using all sorts of extensions to the current Wiki.

-Rene

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Index of columns:

• Reflections on the HL7 membership model - the affiliate life cycle (Dec 28, 2011)
• Thinking like an OWL reasoner (Sep 17, 2011)
• RFH (Resources for Health): HL7 version 3 taken to the next step (Aug 18, 2011)
• What's so great about the HL7 organization? (Aug 04, 2011)
• Kerndossier: een Nederlandse versie van CCD (Dutch, May 03, 2011)
• A HL7 RIMBAA update (Apr 21, 2011)
• Timezone Hotel (Mar 29, 2011)
• HL7 and openEHR are cooperating (finally) (Jan 21, 2011)
• Increasing demand for IHE training courses (Dec 18, 2010)
• Context issues with the IHE QED profile (Dec 15, 2010)
• The changing role of HL7 country organizations (Jul 16, 2010)
• Implementing HL7 version 3 - the book (May 06, 2010)
• Adding openness to a closed world (Feb 09, 2010)
• How to lower the hurdle for HL7 v3 implementers (Jan 21, 2010)
• HL7 v3 deployment statistics (Dec 17, 2009)
• There's Trouble in Paradigm (Sep 25, 2009)
• Internationalization of HL7 (Sep 24, 2009)
• HL7 UK signs deal with Ringholm to deliver HL7 v2/v3 training courses in London (Sep 17, 2009)
• The use of HL7 in South Africa (Aug 20, 2009)
• The Next Web Conference in Amsterdam (Apr 17, 2009)
• The HL7 UK AGM and RIMBAA (Apr 16, 2009)
• The HL7 Wiki reaches 2000 pages (Mar 02, 2009)
• The HL7 roadmap for CDA R3 and the CCD (Jan 17, 2009)
• HL7 Affiliates Meeting in Orlando (Jan 11, 2009)
• Swiss and Dutch HL7 News (Dec 31, 2008)
• Devices and Prizes (Nov 22, 2008)
• HL7 in Norway: a situation report (Sep 02, 2008)
• Russian whitepaper (Jul 09, 2008)
• The HL7 Interoperability Conference - IHIC 2008 (May 30, 2008)
• HL7 creates a RIM Based Application Architecture (RIMBAA) group (May 18, 2008)
• Notes from the HL7 WGM in Phoenix (May 08, 2008)
• Germany embraces CDA eReferral document specification (May 02, 2008)
• HL7 v3 RIM based applications: an unintended side effect (Jan 19, 2008)
• Collaborative Tools (Jun 21, 2007)
• HL7 ist Pflicht in der deutschen Telematikinfrastruktur (German, Mar 16, 2007)
• HL7 based Tree inventory system (Jan 30, 2007)
• The link between HL7 and Open Source Software (Jan 06, 2007)
• Workflow Bribery (Sep 15, 2006)
• Timezones in HL7 (Jan 23, 2004)
• Controlled vocabularies: "@*%!!!" ? (Sep 01, 2003)
• Trusting the other Party (Nov 01, 2002)

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